The Laws of Werewolf Hunting

Chapter 544 Finding Business Opportunities
Donna's unorthodox blessing magic, mixed with church beliefs, seemed to have worked. Clayton woke up feeling more energetic and successfully made it through the most difficult second day.

By the third day, the wound was still there, but it had shrunk by a third.

The risk of death has receded from him.

In the days that followed, Clayton, despite his ailing health, resumed work with the help of Julius and Donna.

He had contacted Clayton earlier, claiming he was going to investigate the Earth Mother Cult, but there had been no news. He didn't know where they had gotten stuck, so he had to do something else first.

He received and replied to letters, remotely directed detectives to investigate the revenue and popular drugs of pharmacies in different parishes, purchased industry intelligence from the Presbyterian Church, exchanged information with members of the Mother Church who were interested in investigating, and wrote self-recommendation letters to the organizers of the horse racing event.

In addition, he wrote to a detective in Weodi, asking him to report on Weodi's current condition and collect information to be compiled into a report for the city's mayor.

Clayton has written separately to the mayor, trying to persuade him to increase funding for the public sector and the judiciary, and also to mention the standards that pharmacists should meet.

The new mayor, Mr. Kunti, is a very powerful man. He comes from a wealthy family and lacks nothing; his father even serves in the Queen's court, which has been a great help to him. Now, he is not yet forty years old, has just left his previous marriage, and immediately entered politics without remarrying, quickly obtaining the position he desired.

Such a person must be ambitious, and persuading him is much easier than bribing him.

At the end of the Holy Trinity Day celebration, Clayton received several more thank-you letters from families who had previously received assistance from Bruno. After Clayton took over the job, these letters cheered him up considerably. They proved that he was doing the right thing, and that even though he was insignificant to the world as a whole, there would still be people who would remember and appreciate his actions.

Another thing to be happy about is that Julius volunteered to do some work. He spent a day helping Donna build a barrier in the garden, supposedly to prevent druids from spying on the place through the plants—although no one has done that before.

This wasn't for Clayton's sake, but because he himself didn't want "Gloria" to be able to see him whenever she wanted. There was only one camellia outside the barrier in the entire garden, which could be used for emergency communication.

This is probably what a wizard's sense of shame is like.

At Clayton's pharmacy, the new medical student took over from Julius and officially became a pharmacist. He lacked experience but possessed excellent medical knowledge, which alone was enough to leave 85 percent of his fellow pharmacists behind.

Clayton allocated him a sum of money so that he could hire two more apprentices to keep the pharmacy afloat.

I believe this business will soon be able to get on track.

Clayton had only two requirements for them: first, to explain to patients all the options available for their condition and their side effects; and second, to prohibit them from peddling unverified folk remedies like pharmacists in other pharmacies—this also included prohibiting them from privately contacting or collaborating with pharmaceutical sales personnel, a point added by Julius.

The wizard is becoming more and more accustomed to communal life with the Bello family.

However, as the day of the Holy Trinity was drawing to a close, Donna began to feel nervous again.

"I still have so much to do!" she shouted as she followed Clayton on his walk, swinging her wooden sword across the bushes beside her, snapping and breaking the long, unsociable branches.

The werewolf's wounds had almost completely healed by this point, and he decided to play the toss game a few more times, but Donna refused.

She told Clayton that there were two things she absolutely had to do.

First, it was a delightful train journey—as everyone knows, one of the greatest pleasures of train travel is sitting in your seat with your head sticking out the window to enjoy the breeze. Donna had previously traveled to Sasha by train, but since she was traveling alone, she couldn't do that to keep an eye on her luggage.

Secondly, she wants to change her name.

To summarize these two things, she was going back to Patnu.

“I think Donna is great, why change her?” Clayton didn’t understand her thinking.

"Her name is Donna Bello! That's her name! I thought you made up this name so I wouldn't know her real name. Who would name someone 'Beautiful' directly?!"

Donna simply repeated the sentiments that Joe Manny had expressed a few days earlier when he visited.

Clayton was speechless.

After all, Donna's name did indeed originate from a mistake made by Tritice, and a name is something that stays with a person for life. Perhaps he should help resolve this issue and see if the letter Ullen left for Tritice is still there. Even if it isn't, he still remembers half of the name in it, and he can let Donna choose one from it.

But Bartnu.
He stared absently at the ground, and after a long while, just when Donna thought he had almost forgotten about it, he finally spoke.

"Okay, we'll go back in the summer."

Donna beamed with joy.

Two days later, Donna returned to Cincinnati College.

Now Clayton only needs to spend a little time each day checking on Joseph and Clara's education; the rest of the time is considered his private time. However, this doesn't mean he can do whatever he wants.

The steady decline in his savings account was putting some pressure on him.

He needs to find a way to make some money.

Clayton has officially taken over the cannery, which is now operating continuously. It primarily produces canned fish, pork, and beef. The fish cans come in three varieties, but are generally the cheapest and sell the most; he earns a penny in net profit for every two cans sold. Pork and beef cans are considered luxuries compared to fish cans, and are considered travel food.

With the income from these canned goods and the pharmacy, Clayton could earn eight pounds a day, enough to satisfy his appetite, but he still had expenses beyond food. The servants in his large house all depended on him for food and clothing.

At this time, the Elders sent another list of assets that Weodi could acquire. Among them, a marine generator company caught his eye. Sasha was going to dredge the waterway to restore shipping, and the marine generator industry had a bright future.

Clayton immediately finalized the deal, but didn't have the money yet.

However, an opportunity soon presented itself to him.

A man came to the rusted silver coin pawning his family heirloom, and Miss Charlotte, unsure what to do with some of the items, brought out Clayton.

"This tin box... it's beautifully packaged, but it gives me a bad feeling." She looked at the things on the table with fear.

It's hard to imagine that Charlotte, a top history student, would encounter an ancient artifact she doesn't recognize. In fact, she does recognize it, but the condition of this artifact is beyond her comprehension. On the contrary, Clayton, who has received her guidance in the field of antiques, recognizes the artifact at a glance.

He picked up the palm-sized tin box, its exterior adorned with noble coats of arms, though worn and faded, the tin itself covered in red rust.

Strangely, there were impact marks on the tin box—not from the outside, but from the inside.

It was as if something extremely powerful had once been imprisoned in the box, stubbornly pounding against it, trying to break free of its cage. If an ordinary person saw this thing, they would probably think it had once housed a little devil.

“This is the Heart Box,” Clayton stated its name with certainty.

Upon hearing his words, Miss Charlotte's eyes widened.

The Heart Box is a type of funeral item.

In Dorne, after the death of all nobles, their bodies are placed in sarcophagi, except for their hearts, which are removed, placed separately in an iron box, and entrusted to the local church for safekeeping, or placed in a special place elsewhere. This is the same for the royal family, without exception.

This is a ritual passed down through generations because the heart is believed to hold a person's soul and spirit.

From a mystical perspective, this is proof of a contract between nobles and fiefdoms.

“So this is…this is…” Miss Charlotte pointed to the impact marks protruding outwards on the metal sheet, her surprised tone stuttering, almost unable to utter a complete sentence.

Julius nodded haughtily beside him: "That's right, just as you imagine."

In the past, only the strong could become nobles. Most nobles practiced secret techniques, and their physical vitality surpassed that of ordinary people. Even after death, their strong hearts could continue to beat.

When these nobles died, the priests who served them would conduct a series of tests to examine whether they had truly been called by the Father.

Only after confirming death will the priests remove the master's heart.

The heart of a weak person can only remain active for a few days after it is removed, while the heart of a truly strong person—if he died in battle—can continue to beat for years inside an iron box.

Those impact marks came from this.

"Incredible!" Charlotte exclaimed sincerely.

Without needing an explanation, she had already thought of the ancient legends of those warrior nobles and connected them with reality for the first time.

This was a tremendous shock on a spiritual level; her pupils dilated and her breathing became rapid.

Clayton looked at her suspiciously: "You accepted it without knowing anything about it?"

Charlotte seemed to have just woken up from a dream: "The guest didn't give me a price. I just gave him some money and he kept it. But he discussed the prices of everything else with me. I noticed his appearance and hands. He was very respectable. He was definitely not the kind of person a tomb raider should look like. I think he was a nobleman who had fallen on hard times."

That's reasonable.

Clayton had never heard of the Heart Box being sold on the market. These things are usually hidden very well, and it would be better to break into a coffin than to risk stealing it.

Its presence here can only mean that yet another landless noble has emerged.

There was no heart in this heart box. The guest probably just didn't want the box. After all, for the descendants of the deceased, giving their ancestor's heart a brand new and beautiful box is probably the only way to show respect.

Without the heart, the Heart Box is nothing more than a broken tin box.

However, this still tells us something.

Clayton squinted.

"Charlotte, I suggest you dig out all the things he sent. If we're lucky, we might find more valuable items than they appear, like legendary artifacts."

(End of this chapter)